Flammable liquids and gases are commonly stored in or transmitted through metallic structures such as ferrous tanks and pipelines. Especially in electrolytic environments (such as soils, moisture, etc.) metallic structures tend to corrode and even to an eventual extent that the flammable fluid will escape and present fire hazards.
Accordingly, cathodic protection for aforementioned metallic structures is desireable. Cathodic protection is broadly defined to mean the steady conveyance of electrons from an external source to the metallic structure. Accordingly, cathodic protection might entail the connection of an elongate electrically conductive wire between a storage tank or transmission pipeline metallic structure and the external source of electrons. The electrons source might be an electrical generator apparatus or even simply an anodic chemical element (e.g. magnesium, zinc, etc.) having an empirical rating on the "Electromotive Force Series of Metals" (i.e. EMS) that is relatively higher than is the EMS rating for the metallic structure. However, as is appreciated in the prior art, connecting the elongate wire to a tank or pipeline metallic structure invariably necessitates the very expensive fire-prevention step of initially purging the flammable fluid prior to making a mechanical or high-temperature connection to the tank or pipeline. For example, mechanical connections deliberately puncture the tank or pipeline, and welds or chemically exothermic processes are apt to produce hairline cracks in the metallic tank or piping; in either case, the escaping flammable fluid can ignite to endanger the workers and environs.